For Princess and Country
by OnlySleeping
Summary: MLP:FiM story. Big Macintosh leaves a letter for Applejack about why he will be away for a very important Equestria holiday. One shot. Rated T for Teen due to themes.


Note One: If someone could explain why I 26 year old man is writing My Little Pony Fanfiction, I would appreciate it if you told me.

Note Two: This fic was created over a dicussion of where the FiM ponies would be in 10 years. Someone brought up the cliche 60s coming of age movies and the song Stand by Me. Than someone speculated that one of the ponies had to be drafted to Vietnam. Than it was suggested that Big Mac had been there and came back alive but changed. Thus this fic was born.

Note Three: I don't own anything in this fanfic.

Dear Applejack.

By the time you read this I should be a good few miles away from ponyville. Sorry I left without saying anything, but I've got a lot of ground to cover and honestly I don't want to see you and Appleblossom sad. Still, you deserve an explanation for why I wont be around for Equestria Foundation Day.

For Princess and Country they called it and I believed them too. I was young then, just older than a colt, we all where.

I got my nickname "Big Mac" in BT as a joke. Paradise Island was a tough and brutal place, but that's where I meet Shadowfax, Artax, Bill,Hidalgo and Boxer. Best group of friends a pony could ever have. No matter how tough things got, I could always count on those brave ponies.

I tell ya, the things we got into. I remember the time we where stationed in Posigon and.. Errr, let me tell you about Boxer, he was a country pony like us, came from a farm too. He never wanted to talk about his old life, it seemed like this was an escape for him. He kept telling us about when he got out, he was going to buy his on farm and get a bunch of other animals to help him run it. He wasn't the smartest pony I've ever meet, but there is no one else I would want watching my back in a fox hole.

I can't tell you how horrible it all was, I've blocked out the worst. You learn to do that when horror and death is everywhere you look. We laughed, smiled and joked as we walked past the fire and blood; once again into the breach.

In our third year we where dropped into the jungle as part of Operation: Forever Rainbow, Twilight Sparkle should have a book on what happened. Our orders where to find and take out the chimera's support base. Artax was sure that we where lost and the coordinates from command where bogus. But Shadowfax kept us going north, he reminded us that we had a job to do and other ponies where counting on us.

Some how the chimera's got the drop on us and everything went bad. I remember Hidalgo going down and never getting back up and Shadowfax telling us to run as he held them off. I remember running for my life and not looking back, Bill disappeared and we couldn't stop to look for him.

I thought I was going to die, I am going to die in this jungle far away from home and for nothing. Than I heard the wings of angels, the Wonderbolts where coming! If we made it just a few more yards, the jungle would break and we would be in the clear. Than it felt like something jumped up and bit me and I feel down. I wasn't in a lot of pain but I couldn't get up and I couldn't move.

Boxer pulled me out of the jungle, he grabbed me by my mane and dragged me into the clearing. He said he had to go back for Artax, he smiled at me before he went back. "After this is over, its the farm life for me!" He raced back into that war zone and I never saw him again.

For a long time I was a very bitter and angry pony. I felt cheated out of my youth and my best friends. I felt like all the sacrifices we made where for nothing. But now I know it wasn't all in vain, I have you and your little sister and granny. But most of all we have Ponyville, I nice safe place where ponies can live in peace and quite. Whenever I having one of my "bad days" I try and find your friend Fluttershy. She is such a quite, shy and gentle pony, and she won't ever have to experience any of the things I learned. I am comforted by the knowledge that I have given someone so gentle this place.

The war changed me Applejack, I know you know that. I've kept a lot of the reasons why to myself and your right to tell me I shouldn't. So that's why I am writing you this letter, letting you know why I won't be around tomorrow for the big Equestria Foundation Day party. I know you want me to be there with you and your friends. But I've got to go out of town and see some old friends of my own.

Your big brother

Big Mac.

P.S. Tell Applebloom I had to go help our Aunts and Uncles with an emergency. Granny already knows.


End file.
